Hinault Wins Preliminary Leg of Tour; LeMond Places Fifth

Frenchman Bernard Hinault lost no time in making an early bid for a record fifth Tour de France bicycle race victory Friday when he won the four-mile preliminary leg of the 24-day event by four seconds over Belgian Eric Vanderaerden.

Hinault, 30, covered the sprint in cool but dry weather in 8:47.04 to take the leader’s yellow jersey for the official start of the 4,000-kilometer (2,485-mile) race around France.

Third-place Stephen Roche of Ireland was 14 seconds behind the leader; Australian Phil Anderson was fourth, 19 seconds back, and American Greg LeMond was fifth, 21 seconds back.

The 180 riders from 18 teams will compete in the first of 22 stages today, a 248-kilometer run from Vannes to Lanester in northwestern France.

Hinault is trying to tie the record of five Tour de France wins shared by Frenchman Jacques Anquetil and Belgian Eddie Merckx. Hinault won the Tour in 1978, 1979, 1981 and 1982 but lost the last two years to Frenchman Laurent Fignon. Fignon, the Renault team leader, will miss this year’s Tour with an Achilles’ tendon injury.

With huge crowds along the route in his native region of Brittany cheering each stride, Hinault confirmed his total recovery from a back injury that many had feared would end his career a year ago.

Hinault rebounded from the injury to finish second in last year’s Tour. His victory in the Tour of Italy a month ago, combined with Fignon’s injury, made Hinault the favorite in the 72nd running of this race.